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NASA is ignoring Arthur C Clarke’s warning to avoid exploring Juipter’s moon, Europa. In 2010: Odyssey Two, a 1982 the science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke, the Earth mission returns to the Jupiter system to explore beneath the ice of Europa, nine years after the failure of the Discovery One mission.

As Jupiter is about to transform into a new star, Lucifer, David Bowman returns to Discovery to give HAL a last order to carry out. HAL begins repeatedly broadcasting the message: ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.

The space agency has announced funding early development of an unusual mission to Europa as it looks toward future space exploration of planets and moons that may contain both water and extraterrestrial life.

The Europa mission proposal aims to create a gravitational map of the moon’s icy surface that many researchers suspect hides an alien ocean beneath. That map would then allow the mission’s “mothership” — a cubesat the size of several Rubik’s cubes stuck together — to deploy possibly hundreds of tiny chipsats to regions of Europa’s surface where liquid water is coming out. Continue reading follow article link